


a toast to freedom

by iwishyoujustholdme



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Human, Angst, Eventual Smut, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, I'm Bad At Tagging, M/M, Road Trips, That's it
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-12-25
Updated: 2018-12-25
Packaged: 2019-09-27 06:03:15
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,745
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17156597
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/iwishyoujustholdme/pseuds/iwishyoujustholdme
Summary: After surviving the first semester at college, Liam finds himself with nothing to do for the upcoming two months and once Theo tells him that he has never been to California, he knows how to spend the next weeks.I am deeply sorry, I am very new to this and I suck at summaries. They basically just go on a roadtrip so I hope you enjoy.





	a toast to freedom

**Author's Note:**

> Hi! Thank you so much for reading!  
> I have literally just created my account but I had been wanting to post this story for a while already.  
> Note that I have no beta reader simply because I don't know anyone here so all the mistakes are mine.  
> Also, I am not an English native speaker so if a sentence sounds odd, just blame it on that.  
> Lastly, this chapter is just supposed to set the premise of the story, I surely hope that the next ones will be slightly more exciting.

Liam steps out of the university building, breathes in the December air and heads to his dormitory. He just finished writing his last exam this semester, and given he had survived the past two and a half weeks off of ramen noodles, a lot of coffee and the mental support of his room mate, he is more than relieved this phase was over. He had planned to visit his family over Christmas, but considering the costs of plane tickets to California and him not having a car, he is now stuck in Austin, Texas for roughly the next two months before resuming his semester. 

He doesn't meet anyone on the way to his room. His exam is one of the last taken on the whole campus, many people are probably heading home to visit their families or sleeping in as they are already spared the stress of taking exams. It is only 11:30 am when he silently opens the door to his room, intending not to wake his room mate up. He shouldn't be surprised seeing Theo being awake already, although he is barely covered by a blanket and scrolling through his phone. In moments like this, Liam wonders if Theo even wears boxers when sleeping, but quickly pushes the thought aside and let's himself fall on his mattress, face first. 

He hears a grunt from the other. "How did it go?"  
Liam takes a moment to reply, sighs and then pushes out: "It was okay. I just did completely forget in which month the First World War had started."  
"If that is your only concern, I think the exam wasn't too bad", Theo laughs. 

Liam turns around to face Theo but he is still doing something on his phone. He just spends a few minutes watching him, admiring his big frame and sheepishly looking away everytime Theo looks up or moves, hoping not to get caught.  
"You got anything to do the next weeks?", Liam blurts out before he can even think of his words.  
Theo looks up and smiles, his eyes meeting Liam's. "You want to do something with me?"

And there it is again. That weird flirting but at the same time it is not flirting and leaves Liam so confused at all times. He would have finished his exam way sooner today but he got distracted by thoughts of his room mate rumouring all around his head and not seeming to rest. In his head, Liam had replayed the past evening a hundred times when Theo had given him a good night kiss on the cheek, which wasn't something Theo would do and Liam was pretty sure something that Theo didn't do to any of his other friends. Theo had probably thought that Liam had been already asleep on his history papers, however did Liam still notice the small peck he gave him and the blanket Theo had put over him, cherishing that moment ever since it had happened.

He shakes his head and enters reality again when he realises Theo staring at him, waiting for an answer. "No", Liam said slowly, "I mean... yeah. If you wanna hang out or something. I ain't really got something to do so if you're free that's cool, you know." He feels too awkward and in this moment he asks himself if Theo ever notices his odd behaviour. 

Theo laughs a very loud, but genuine laugh and nods. "You know, maybe we could ask the rest what they're up to and maybe we will get to celebrate Christmas together. Not that I have anyone else to spend my time with."  
That's a taboo topic and Liam does not explore it any further. He has tried a few times in the past to find out about Theo and his mysterious relationship to his parents, but at the same time reminded himself not to ask him as Liam didn't want to open up to his room mate either.

Theo continued his thoughts. "We wanted to meet up this afternoon actually, Scott told me yesterday and I might have forgotten to tell you. Wanted to leave a note when I saw you were asleep." He had done something else when he saw Liam sleeping. And Liam totally didn't mind.  
"Yeah", he replies and lowers his gaze, "the topic was really tiring and at this point I had to keep my eyes shut because keeping them open hurt." He looks up again to see Theo with a very concerned expression but Liam shrugs it off.

"Liam, that's awful. How are you even doing now? Don't tell me you're fine because you slept an average of two hours per night. When was the last time you ate something other than ramen noodles?"  
Liam growls. "Who are you, my mother?" As it sounds too rude, he quickly adds. "Sorry, it's probably the stress that I'm suddenly revealed from. Have to get used to actually having free time now."

"Look, here's the plan", Theo says, "you get a good amount of rest by napping now, and I'll be waking you at 1. We will go out for lunch and then we will meet the rest to see what they're up to."  
Liam approves of the plan by nodding weakly and grinning, before he repositions himself on the bed and falls fast asleep. He dreams of good night kisses, very many and very passionate kisses, until he is woken by a gentle stroke to his cheek. 

"It's really hard to wake you up", Theo chuckles.  
"Well then, you don't have to go soft on me. I'm not made of glass, you can take me a bit rougher when needed." That last part slips out of his mouth before he can give it a second thought and Liam is convinced it was a bad idea.  
"It's noted", Theo just smirks and looks down at him before standing up and clearing the way. "Maybe you should get up now, we don't want to miss your first proper meal in weeks."

Liam growls. "Well, fuck you."  
Theo winks at him. "Maybe later, thought I could use some help though", he says quietly.  
Liam chokes, starts coughing and Theo is laughing again. "Now, get up, little boy, or I'll be driving to the diner without you."

They arrive about twenty minutes later, after Liam had only slowly gotten up and thrown on some other clothes than his sweatpants and a loose hoodie.  
As they sit down in a booth, Theo says something Liam doesn't expect at all. "Name five places in the US you have yet not visited but want to."  
Liam is stuttering at first, his mind racing. How did Theo even come up with that? He must have thought of the meeting with their friends later, how he'd spent the holidays and ultimately concluded he'd want to spend them with Liam. The thought of it makes Liam smile, although it is very unlikely to be true. 

"I don't know", he says after a long time of thinking, during which they both had made their order. "What about you?"  
"I haven't really put thought into it either", Theo admits and scratches his head. "But I guess I'd like to go to California once. I've heard about the Golden Gate Bridge and how beautiful the sunset is there."  
"Don't tell me you've never been to California." Liam's eyes are widened with disbelief. "Didn't you tell me once you grew up near Vegas? It's not even far to Cali from there."  
Theo just shrugs and smiles at the waitress as their food is being brought.  
"Dude, even I have been to San Francisco and I did not even leave Houston for the first twelve years of my life", Liam continues while munching his fries. He suddenly has an idea and it urges him to tell Theo about it so he just blurts it out. "You said you didn't have anything to do the next few weeks? Go to California with me, spend Christmas there and we will be back in no time and you can do whatever you wanna." 

Theo looks up from his burger and stares at Liam with an indistinguishable expression. After a while, that feels like eternities for Liam, he slowly says: "You know... that sounds like a great idea. Too bad I can not afford plane tickets, and I suppose even breathing in San Francisco is extremely expensive."  
Liam is too excited to stop himself. He grins widely and shakes his head lightly while shoving a few fries into his mouth. "Plane? What are you talking about? It's gonna be a road trip. And my mother used to hitchhike to California and stay there for two months when she was my age, so we will definitely find something."  
"I'll think about it", Theo says a bit indifferent and takes another bite of his burger. 

The others are not very fond of the idea. Within minutes they all have made up excuses. Stiles even admitted his crush on Derek to get out of it and Liam doesn't really get why they all don't want to spend time with him, but he doesn't bother too much to just convince Theo to go with him. 

They return to their dorm long after sunset, having talked the past couple of hours and drinking one or few beers. While Theo is in the bathroom getting ready for the night, Liam scrolls through his phone when he hears the other boy clear his throat. "You know what?", he says from the bathroom, "I'm agreeing to your stupid road trip. But", he adds quickly, "I have a few amendments to your idea."  
Liam looks up and Theo is standing in the doorframe that connects their room with the bathroom.  
"Shoot", Liam says.  
Theo just grins. "Sure. First off, we will take my car and I will be driving because I do not trust you being behind the wheel. Second, we are exactly planning when we will depart and when we will retu-"  
"Shut it, old man", Liam laughs, "We are not going to plan anything. Why, does it hurt you to be a bit spontaneous at times?"

Theo grunts. "Well then, Mr. Spontaneous. I'll wake you at 7 tomorrow morning, you'll pack your bags and we'll leave half an hour later. Understood?"  
Liam mumbles a "Yes" as he lays down on his mattress with a huge grin he can only barely cover up once Theo returns from the bathroom.

**Author's Note:**

> Make sure to leave feedback!


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